Mission: Redemption
by railmaniac
Summary: He was defeated. He was broken. There was nothing left. "Hello, Tom Riddle. I am Salazar Slytherin and I will put you back together." Tom Riddle gets a second chance at life, courtesy of his distant ancestor, for the sake of redemption. But as Tom gets about his new life he begins to realize he should have asked one question: whose redemption?
1. Prologue

_He was lying under a bench on a train station when he woke up._

He didn't know the details, but he knew he had been defeated. There was nothing more left.

_A young man and an old man were talking. He didn't understand what they said but wished they would go away from him. They did._

He was in pieces. Everything was cloudy and muddled. Nothing made sense.

He remembered being in an orphanage. He remembered his uncle and aunt locked him up in a cupboard.

He remembered his parents hated him and abandoned him. He remembered his parents loved him and died for him.

He remembered killing a young man with black hair and glasses and a young woman with red hair and green eyes.

He wished his parents hadn't died. If they had lived he wouldn't have to be in an orphanage.

_For a brief instant, in his own muddled state, he regretted killing them._

Suddenly, there was a bright light and a loud sound. Before he could understand what happened he heard something else - footsteps. And they were growing closer to him. All of the cloudy and hazy feeling he had till now seemed to melt in an instant and he was only aware of the footsteps. He wished they would leave him alone, but knew he would get no such thing. The footsteps kept getting closer.

The footsteps stopped right next to him and a man with a frightening face bent under the bench to look at him.

**"Hello, Tom Marvolo Riddle. My name is Salazar Slytherin, and I'm going to put you together."**


	2. Mission

_(Somewhere between life and death)_

"Well done Tom Riddle. You have exceeded my expectations!"

Tom Riddle stared at the figure in front of him. The other looked like Albus Dumbledore, acted like Albus Dumbledore and talked like Albus Dumbledore. But he still couldn't be sure if it was Albus Dumbledore. It could be aother test of character - Merlin knows he has had enough of them these days. Or it could be the real Albus Dumbledore as a test of character. He personally always considered Dumbledore as a test of patience.

His mind was brought back to what pseudo-Dumbledore was saying. Apparently he'd exceeded the expectations of Albus Dumbledore. Which could just be the old man's way of saying he never expected anything from Tom in the first place.

* * *

Not that what Tom had done was trivial. It must have taken him and his distant ancestor thousands of years to put the pieces of his soul together. Not that time had any meaning when you're not amongst the living.

The first time it had been easy. He didn't know if he was Tom Riddle or Harry Potter. He regarded the murder of Potter's parents as the start of all of his misery, losing his body and everything he had worked for, and being locked in a cupboard. The source of all the loneliness and the never ending scrutiny because of his scar. He hated the Potters - his parents loved him and gave up their life for him.

In his confused state it was simple to summon up true remorse for killing James and Lily Potter - which was what was needed to merge himself with his horcrux (or was he the horcrux? He still wasn't sure).

When he woke up he had been furious at being cheated into merging his horcrux. He was also more lucid than he ever remembered. After a shouting match with his ancestor he understood that he had to merge all of his horcruxes or he will be stuck between life and death for eternity. Of course, Tom was in no hurry to die, but Salazar revealed that if Tom redeems himself by putting all the pieces of his soul together, what awaits him might not be death, but another chance at life!

Tom had nothing to lose. He decided to dedicate everything that he was to the task of putting himself together.

But his newfound lucidity also made it more difficult. He had to understand the impact of every murder he had committed for the sake of infinite life. Merely regret for his own sake would not suffice; true remorse was needed. Given the type of person Tom Riddle was, anyone would say this was impossible for him.

_But then, Tom Riddle was known for accomplishing the impossible._

Driven by his own ego, the encouragements, scoldings, and taunts of Salazar Slytherin and the fact that he had nothing to lose, Tom Riddle put the pieces of his soul together. It had been painful and humiliating. It had been the worst thing he had ever done.

It had been the best thing he had ever done.

* * *

And now, he was to be evaluated for all that by Albus Too Many Names Dumbledore.

"So what now, old man..." he asked. "Off to the next great adventure for me?"

Dumbledore's face took a brief look of astonishment, before he nodded. "Of course. You have the memories of Harry Potter. But not all of them, is it not so?"

"Not all of them," Tom conceded.

"Well, anyway, you will be off soon on your next great adventure... but your adventure will not be in the beyond, no. You will be going back to the living world.

"Not as a ghost or a wraith, though... you will be going back as a child. Think of it as a second chance at life, a chance to right all the wrongs you did. Think of it as redemption."

"I thought", Tom remarked, "that combining all my horcruxes and making myself whole again was to be my redemption."

"Do you think it is sufficient?", countered Dumbledore.

In another time, he would have replied that it was more than what the old man deserved out of him. But now, after having faced his crimes head on several times, after having felt utter and complete remorse for his crimes he could not help just hanging his head.

"Alright" he said, "is there anything I need to know? What should I do?"

"Of course, Tom. There is still plenty you need to know", said Dumbledore affably, with a twinkle in his eyes. "But you will have to figure them out yourself, like every other child does. Ah, to be a child again..."

Tom didn't have time for the old man's theatrics. "I suppose making horcruxes and becoming a dark lord again is not an option..."

"Of course it is an option, Tom. But you don't strike me as the kind of fool who does the same mistakes over and over again."

"I suppose I will have to make new mistakes", grumbled Tom. "I'd like to get on with it then, if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind, Tom... if you would just step through this door here..."

* * *

When Dumbledore returned to room there was another figure standing there. "What do you think?", he asked the figure.

"I don't trust him one bit. He needs to be watched"

"Well of course he needs to watched, old friend" Dumbledore countered in quite a jolly fashion. "Why do you think I have you?"


	3. Awakening

_(England, Earth)_

It was over time that Tom realized he was a child again.

Which was just as well. He was afraid that his next memory would be getting ejected out of some woman's womb. Or getting suckled on her tits. But it seems that it takes some time before a human child can master the fine art of making sense of its own thoughts, which is why he was spared that particular indignity. By the time he could truly claim to have woken up, he was four years old, and already knew a few things about his new life.

He was Pollux, twin brother of Castor. They were both born on 26th July 1979. They lived with "mother" and "dad". They had an older sister "Nimi" who was ten years old.

It seemed mother was a pureblood, while dad was a muggleborn. Pollux wondered how that had happened along. He wryly thought that at least it was a step-up from his previous life... his father was a wizard this time!

Four year olds have a lot of spare time. Playing with his toys took only a fraction of his brain, and he used the time to think. He still had no idea what he was going to do with his life, beyond "don't be a dark lord". He supposed restoring the former glory of the Slytherin name was right out... he hoped his ancestor's ghost forgave him for that.

He was actually enjoying being a child. His most recent thoughts previously were filled with guilt and remorse; in contrast the complete irresponsibility of his life now was almost cathartic. He supposed that was the plan - he became a dark lord because of an unhappy childhood, so with a happy childhood he wouldn't become a dark lord.

(It completely escaped his thoughts right then that Harry Potter had also had a less than wonderful childhood and still didn't turn out to be a dark lord.)

This would be easy, wouldn't it? He would be a happy child, and happy children don't become dark lords. He was smarter than anyone else in the world - and in a world without a dark lord (since he was not about to become one) there would really be no trouble at all.

He knew he was probably tempting fate by thinking like this, but he couldn't help it. Sure he would face the little problems all the normal people faced, but it would be no trouble for he who was once Tom Riddle.

For what was probably the first time in either of his lives, Pollux relaxed. He had some of the best days of his life as a child.

* * *

After Nimi (turns out her name was Nymphadora. Who names their kid Nymphadora?) went to Hogwarts a year later, Pollux found himself with even more time on his hands. He decided to use the time to assess some of the magical talents of his new self.

For example, was he still a parselmouth? Parseltongue was a blood trait, and best known amongst the direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin. But Slytherin was not the first parselmouth; he was merely the best known. Magical people who shared an ancestor with Slytherin could also develop the talents of parsel speech.

It was pretty unlikely, but the only way to find out was to try talking to a snake.

But the trouble was, a five year old versus a snake could turn out to be pretty fatal for the five year old if it turned out he could not talk to snakes. There had to be some sort of control.

He made all sorts of attempts to find snakes in circumstances where they could not harm him. He begged his parents to take him to the zoo once. He was disappointed to find that the zoo had no snakes. What sort of zoo has no snakes? Were they bloody extinct in this world?

He made plans to trap a garden snake in a glass jar and safely question it. It was a very good plan; it had fallbacks on top of fallbacks. Tom Riddle didn't make plans halfway, and neither did Pollux. And like several of his excellent plans he never got a chance to use it.

Because one day the bedroom of Pollux and Castor was invaded by a black snake.

* * *

He was more frightened than he had ever been in his life. Er, lives. He climbed on top his bed, and deciding he had nothing to lose, talked to the snake.

"Hello, can you hear me?"

There was no reply from the snake which continued to slither at him menacingly.

"You on the ground. Black snake. Stop right now!"

Still no response.

It became pretty obvious the snake did not understand Pollux, and judging from the way its hisses were just hisses, Pollux did not understand the snake either. He knew it was unlikely he'd be a parselmouth again, but this had to be the worst way of finding out!

"So, can you speak to it?"

Pollux turned to see Castor leaning casually against the door, watching Pollux with no expression on his face. He did not seem even a bit frightened of the snake, which for its part seemed to ignore Castor and continued to advance on Pollux.

"No, I can't speak to the snake!", Pollux replied desperately.

Castor grinned, stood up straight to bring forth a knife he must have tucked in his waistband before and casually decapitated the snake by stabbing its neck.

* * *

While Pollux was still catching his breath Castor disposed of the snake's body and cleaned up the blood. He cleaned up the knife and placed it back in the kitchen. Finally he disposed off of the rag he had used to clean up the blood.

When Castor came back to the room Pollux had calmed back down and was watching Castor warily. Pollux had till now ignored his twin as a five year old of no consequence, but an average five year old did not have instincts of a remorseless professional killer.

_Well, he did. He'd had it the first time as well._

"Why'd you kill the snake?" he asked Castor, although he felt it was a stupid question as soon as he'd asked it. _There were other better questions he could have asked. For example, how did the snake get in? Castor did not seem surprised to see the snake..._

Castor looked at him making it obvious he thought it was a stupid question. "If I hadn't killed it it would have killed you."

_Pollux also realized something else... Castor was not a stranger to the idea of people speaking to snakes. He'd asked Pollux if he could speak to the snake, but Pollux had not asked Castor if he could._

Then he smiled a lopsided smile which didn't reach his eyes "Besides, I hate snakes."

Pollux was reminded of another five year old boy nearly fifty years ago who was pretty scared of snakes; that is, until he realized he could talk to them and make them do his bidding. This sounded like Tom Riddle would say.

How Castor looked at him was how Tom Riddle would look at people.

How Castor had acted was how Tom Riddle would have acted.

Castor was the twin brother of Pollux, who was Tom Riddle in another life. They were both named after the Gemini, which is the constellation for twins.

_Was Castor Tom Riddle as well?_


	4. Gemini

Over the next few weeks Castor seemed to have reverted back to an unassuming five year old - not that Pollux had paid heed to him before.

_He was observing him very carefully now._

He observed how Castor subtly used everything in his environment to make himself stronger, physically as well as magically. Castor was preparing for war.

Castor was making himself physically stronger by flexing himself against unbreakable and unyielding objects - like the wall, or one of his toys. He went as close as he could to breaking an unbreakable object without breaking himself. It was a crude way of resistance training - but one Tom Riddle himself had used when he had wanted to grow strong and yet hide his strength.

Castor loved to play - which would be normal for a boy his apparent age. But Pollux now noticed that Castor would push himself slightly beyond the point of complete exhaustion every time he ran or jumped. Castor was slowly but surely building up his stamina.

Castor was also building up his magic, in pretty much the same way one builds up a muscle. He would surge up his magic as if to cast a spell, but instead of casting a spell he then held it in until it dissipated. Pollux was quite familiar with that method as well. Over time the surge came out stronger and stronger, and the control also became stronger.

And in all this, Castor was careful enough not to get noticed by any of the adults. He wasn't overdoing it either, in a way that would stunt his growth. He was taking it slow and steady, with a discipline Tom Riddle never had. No, Tom had been more for quick fixes.

Pollux was reminded of how woefully lacking his own preparation was. He vowed to pick up the pace; if for nothing else than to match Castor.

* * *

Pollux continued to search for other talents, now that parseltongue was out of the window. Nymphadora turned out to have talents in Metamorphmagic, as per the letter Minerva McGonagall had sent their mother (which she read out to the whole family in pride). He wondered if he would have such talents as well.

He remembered the Metamorph Nymphadora Tonks now. In another life he had taunted his most loyal follower, Bellatrix LeStrange into killing her. "Pruning the bad branches of the family tree" was what he'd called it, or something like that. That meant "Mother" was Andromeda Tonks nee Black, and "dad" was that mud- er, muggleborn she had married. What was his name again... Steve?

One of the things he'd noticed was that the level of magical power he had was pretty low compared with when he had been Tom Riddle. At this age as Tom Riddle he could occasionally read minds and coerce small pets into stealing kitchen knives and ritually disemboweling themselves.

He smirked a bit at that memory before he realized what he was thinking and dropped the smirk. He breathed a sigh of relief after a few seconds when it became obvious he was not going to be marked as a fail on thinking bad thoughts and continued his introspection.

Even if Tom Riddle's magical power had been abnormally high, Pollux could still tell his own power was very low. Till now he hadn't done accidental magic even once. If it hadn't been for what he'd observed Castor doing he would have feared the both of them were squibs. But Castor definitely had magic, and it was unheard of identical twins where one was magical and one was a squib.

But one thing was certain - he wouldn't be one of the more powerful wizards. He wouldn't be a Tom Riddle, or an Albus Dumbledore. He doubted he could even manage a Harry Potter - the brat for all his faults had been powerful enough to conjure a patronus at thirteen.

In a way that was a great guilty relief. He wouldn't become a dark lord. Because becoming a dark lord while you are nearly a squib is just asking to be shot in the back by your own followers.

But something told him Castor was not going to let that stop him.

* * *

Pollux decided he'd had enough of watching his twin surreptiously. He decided to confront him directly.

"Why did you kill the snake?", he asked Castor.

Castor looked at him in confusion and then narrowed his eyes. "We've covered this already, I-"

"You wanted to save me and you hate snakes, yes. But did you pause to consider the snake meant me no harm? Did you consider the snake was lost and as scared as I was?"

He had been very proud to have come up with that argument. Consideration and empathy did not come to him naturally, but he'd forced himself to think like the snake till he'd come up with this argument.

Castor seemed bemused to hear it. "I'll have to say, I did not consider that, Pollux".

Oh good, Castor was just unthinking, not a psychopath.

But then Castor continued, "You seem to understand the snake very well Pollux. How do you know whether it was scared or not?"

"I believe you should just have given it a chance." Great, he was sounding like Dumbledore now.

Castor merely raised an eyebrow and replied "Some don't deserve any chances. They won't change their nature no matter how many chances you give them."

And boy, didn't that one hit close to home...

Pollux replied "But you can't just go around killing, can you?"

Castor replied "I prefer to think of it as saving. I saved you after all, didn't I dear brother?"

Sure. He was Castor's dear brother. That's why Castor had hate in his eyes whenever he looked.

He had to make sure of one more thing...

"And what will you do when the reckoning comes? When you will be asked to account for all your killings?"

To which Castor said, "I don't think that's going to happen any time soon."

Pollux had everything he had come for.

* * *

There was no doubt in Pollux's mind that Castor was another Tom Riddle. The idea was not as absurd as it sounded. In fact, if you were an expert in occult and symbolism like Tom Riddle was, it did not sound absurd at all.

He had thought his path to redemption was too easy. He already knew of his mistakes, he didn't plan on making horcruxes and now it looked like he would never even have enough magical power to become a proper dark lord.

Pollux realized that the danger was never of him becoming a dark lord. When the soul of Tom Riddle was sent back to earth it was split yet another time - not in the manner of horcruxes, but in the manner the soul splits when a single embryo turns into identical twins.

He, Pollux had obviously ended up with the part of the soul that had undergone a lot of punishment, and understood the price a villain had to pay fate.

Castor on the other hand, had probably ended up with that part of the soul which had the ambition to become a dark lord. Maybe Castor was a blank slate like the original Tom Riddle, without any memories of the past. Maybe he remembered everything and still wanted to be a dark lord.

The symbolism was unmistakeable. The names of the twins, thembeing identical, the way Castor behaved, everything added up.

And there was only one person who could stop him. Pollux. It was fate after all.

Should he kill Castor now, before he becomes evil?

And then Pollux realized something. In the year he had spent with the Tonks, he had grown attached to everyone in the family - including Castor, even though he frankly scared him. The idea of killing seemed repugnant in a way it had never felt before.

Pollux savoured the feeling of disgust, of conscience. He was one of the good guys now. He couldn't go killing a child just because of who he would be as an adult.

He had already tried that once and it didn't go too well actually.

No, Pollux finally understood what it was he had to do. He had to redeem Castor. Give him the chance to do the right thing, the chance that no one had given Tom Riddle. Pollux had to prevent the rise of a dark lord.

_And if that doesn't work, there's always plan B - murder._

And here he was thinking it was going to be too easy...

* * *

Now that he understood Castor a little better, he was surprised to find a strange camaraderie between the two of them. No one lese noticed, of course... they were twins after all, they were supposed to be close. But Pollux and Castor knew. Pollux felt for the first time he had someone he could treat as an equal.

He tried several times to, so to speak, bring Castor over to the side of Light. However, he was no Albus Dumbledore and his arguments sounded clumsy even to himself. Castor was clearly amused, but he tolerated his brother.

It was not long before Pollux's happy mood returned. He and Castor started having fun as only children have.

And in the summer holidays Nymphadora Tonks was back with them.

* * *

"DON'T CALL ME NYMPHADORA!" she bellowed for possibly the twentieth time.

"Why not Nymphadora?", asked Castor, "that's your name, init?"

"Yes Nymphadora, my dear brother has a point", Pollux decided to chime in.

"I don't like that name. Call me Tonks, instead."

"We can't call you Tonks, Nymphadora" protested Pollux reasonably, "we are all Tonks in this house."

"No you doofus", she said, "You two are Blacks. Only mother, dad and me are Tonks!"

By the look on Castor's face he was not aware of this either. Pollux braved and asked Nymphadora how come they were Blacks when everyone else is a Tonks.

"Oh, you guys don't remember? Uh... maybe you should talk to mother about this."

"You're just having us on," deduced Castor, "it's the old trick where you try to convince someone they are adopted. You really think we are gonna fall for that?"

Pollux wasn't too sure. He had a bad feeling about this.

Nymphadora was never one to back down. Her face became haughty and she replied, "Well guess what you two jokers, you are adopted. You are not children of my mother.

**"Your mother is Auntie Bellatrix Black."**

* * *

Authors Note: I had never realized how much work it would be to fill up the details of a story even when you have the outline prepared. I know the beginning and I know the end, but the middle stumps me ;)

I'll try to post the next chapter, "Bella's Tale" by the next weekend.

Meanwhile, please review!


	5. Bella's Tale

"Well... I suppose you two are old enough to know..."

When they went to Andromeda she first denied the whole thing. She then spent fifteen minutes admonishing Nymphadora which both Castor and Pollux watched with ill-concealed glee. And then, seeing as neither twin had been distracted, she decided to come clean and tell it all.

Except there wasn't much to tell. Yes, Bellatrix Black was their mother. They had been with Andromeda since they were two years old. Bellatrix was currently in Azkaban. She would be out in three more years.

However, the most interesting bit of information was why Bellatrix had gone to Azkaban in the first place. She was there because she had been a follower of the dark lord, He-who-must-not-be-named.

* * *

Pollux was in shock.

**_This was NOT a world without a Dark Lord!_**

He had been pretty happy till he found Castor could be another Tom Riddle, possibly one without memories of a past life. But now there was a full fledged Lord Voldemort walking free out there? How many were there! With his luck the diary horcrux was also activated and going around riding a bloody basilisk!

The Dark Lord, He-who-must-be-hyphenated was allegedly vanquished by The-Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. Well that was a relief, he was almost afraid it would be the Longbottom brat in this world. Nice to have something predictable after all the shocks he'd gotten.

Hmm, speaking of the Longbottoms, how come dear Bella was only in for five years? Torturing the Longbottoms alone should have been worth life. Did she manage to bribe the wizengamot? The Bella he knew was too much of a miser for that sort of practical solution...

Unfortunately Andromeda had none of the details. There was nothing to do but wait for Bellatrix to get released (since obviously no one was about to let a pair of five, almost six year olds into Azkaban).

Andromeda suggested they write to Bellatrix, now that they knew she was their real mother. Pollux knew the prisoners in Azkaban almost never get to see their letters, but he wrote something anyway.

* * *

To a normal six year old boy, two years would seem like an eternity. But to Pollux, who had counted ages in another life they didn't seem so long.

The only notable things which happened in those two years was that at some point, Pollux started practicing occlumency - no doubt Castor was doing the same.

And the other notable thing was that Castor had joined, of all things, a muggle martial arts class! Tom Riddle would never have lowered himself to muggle ways of fighting!

But after thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. As Tom Riddle he had loads of magical power and could afford to bleed magic while standing, but those with low amounts of magic - like Pollux and Castor - needed to perfect magical control. And the first step to that was physical control. Martial arts were a very good way of making the body physically efficient, and therefore magically efficient.

The traditional way of doing that was through fencing and archery of course, but even among wizards that was so rare these days. He remembered Abraxas Malfoy being a mean swordsman, but even his own ponce of a son just carried a wand in his cane.

Pollux also joined the martial arts classes soon after.

Bellatrix was released from prison just before Christmas of 1987.

* * *

Andromeda had gone to fetch her from the Ministry of Magic and they had both floo'ed in in the evening when Castor and Pollux had just returned from their Taekwondo practice. She was looking thin and tired. Her eyes were closed and she was leaning against Andromeda for support - possibly both physical and emotional. She didn't seem to have the mad, insane energy he seemed to remember.

When she saw the two of them however, her eyes went wide and she rushed to embrace them. "MY BOYS!", she cried and started blubbering over them all about how she missed them every moment of staying in Azkaban. Castor and Pollux patted her awkwardly and tried not to comment on how their sweaty Taekwondo uniform was becoming tear-stained as well.

It seemed Bellatrix was not about to let the two of them out of her embrace for the rest of the day, so they just settled for hugging her back. If someone had told Tom Riddle he would feel safe in the embrace of Bellatrix, he would have laughed - after cruciating the poor chap, of course. But strangely, that is exactly how Pollux felt at that moment. After all this time spent worrying, suddenly it felt like everything was alright in the world.

"Let me look at the two of you" Bellatrix held them at her eye level as she knelt down.

"You two look so much like your father!" she exclaimed and started sobbing again.

Pollux had taken a good look at himself in the mirror after he'd learned who his real mother was. He and Castor looked so much like a pair of mini-Bellatrices that he had wondered how he had missed it before. But he had seen nothing that reminded him of any of the Lestranges. He supposed it was a distraught mother's whim to try and see something of her husband in her children.

_That is, assuming they were LeStrange's children in the first place._

He decided to take the opening. "Mother, who was our father?" he asked. He noticed Bellatrix tightening her face, and turned to see Andromeda tightening her features similarly. There seemed to be a silent communication between them and Bellatrix smiled. She said, "Call me 'mum', boys. There is no need to be formal with me."

Andromeda seemed rather put-out at hearing that after five years of training them to be perfect pureblood heirs.

"Your father was a great man. I will tell you his name when you are older, but understand that he was a great man. He died for what he believed in, and he believed he could fix the whole world if he worked at it hard enough. Please don't ask me to tell you who he was right now, but know that he was someone you could be proud of, and he would be proud of two boys like you."

That settled it. There was no way any of the LeStranges was their father. (Tom Riddle had never bothered remembering which brother it was that was actually married to Bellatrix. As far he was concerned, Bellatrix was _his_.)

He noticed Castor was looking pretty ill. _What's the matter, don't like being a bastard you bastard_, he thought rather uncharitably.

* * *

It took months of nagging and bugging Bellatrix before she agreed to tell her tale.

"I guess you know that I was one of the Dark Lords most faithful followers. In fact I was his favourite."

Castor looked at Pollux, but Pollux was hardly going to contradict her.

"At first we thought the Dark Lord was doing a good thing. He was going to restore the might of magic to its former glory and end the threat of the muggles. It was not like we were doing anything bad either. I was actually pretty happy and proud to be part of the revolution."

Sure, they weren't doing anything bad. Just torturing muggles and practicing dark rituals, thought Pollux.

"But even then, I should have seen how the Dark Lord was only destroying the wizarding world. Pureblood family after family perished to his whims. The Prewetts, the Bones... every other week another family would be gone down to their last heir. We weren't getting alarmed, because it was just the blood traitors, right?

"But it was not like our side was faring any better. Our own fathers, uncles, cousins were dying off, and there was nothing we could do to stop it. And they didn't always die to the other side; in fact Dumbledore's people tried to avoid killing whenever they could. On the other hand, the Dark Lord would often kill someone to punish them for failure. He would kill someone's heir if they displeased him. The Dark Lord was single-handedly wiping out the wizarding world and we were just too blind to see it."

Pollux felt the stirrings of something he was made familiar with only recently - remorse and guilt.

Bellatrix continued, "When father and uncle Orion died I should have seen what was happening; instead I threw myself in my own madness. All across the family of Black lay in disarray - Andromeda was disowned, Aunt Walburqa was mad, Sirius was as good as disowned. Narcissa should have been with me but her husband did not allow her out of the house - perhaps he was smarter than my own husband, now that I think about it.

"Only Regulus stayed with me. He was almost as faithful to the Dark Lord as myself."

"I was perfectly happy with being disowned, you know", quipped Andromeda, lightening the mood somewhat.

"I know that now", Bellatrix smiled. It was a genuine smile which looked out of place on Bellatrix's face to POllux, who was only used to seeing her grin like a complete maniac. "But at the time I pitied you for losing everything. I also hated you for betraying all of us. And somewhere in a corner of my mind I also loved you because you were my sister.

"I was confused and angry, and because of that I only threw myself into the service of the Dark Lord more.

"Then two things happened. One, Regulus died, leaving me utterly alone. And the Dark Lord declared him a traitor.

"Two, I discovered that I was pregnant with the two of you."

Here Bellatrix paused to take a breath.

"I knew the Dark Lord wouldn't mind me having babies. We were all cattle to him, and the women were just there to give him more future soldiers. But it was then that I seriously started thinking whether it was a future I wanted for my children. The Dark Lord did not share anything, and especially not the affection of his followers. Of course, I really had no love for Rodolphus, but it skewered my heart to put aside my affection for Regulus when the Dark Lord declared him a traitor. I had already been forced to sever my ties to Andromeda and Sirius. What if one day I would be forced to give up my affection for my unborn children?

"It was then that I decided to abandon the Dark Lord."

* * *

"I planned for several weeks. I was on a short time-table because I didn't want the Dark Lord to know I was with child. If something went wrong I would rather have him punishing just me for my failure and betrayal, rather than come after the two of you.

"It all fell in place during one of the raids. I went to the place unseen and set up some equipment. During the raid I faked my own death and ran away from there."

Bellatrix was obviously not going to reveal the gruesome details to a pair of seven year old children, but Pollux could read between the lines. Bellatrix had to have stowed a woman polyjuiced or transfigured to look like her at the site of the raid. No, polyjuice was probably out - there was no way she would get to visit the site of a raid less than an hour before. Besides, there's no need to assume the woman was alive before Bellatrix "arranged" her demise.

He was impressed with the thoroughness with which Bellatrix had gone on with her defection. She would have had to mimic the magic of the dark mark on the hands of the doppelganger, and then destroy her hands so that no one can examine the body and tell that it was not an actual Dark Mark. She must have done it pretty well to fool the Dark Lord himself!

"I had a fake identity all setup. I went over to the muggle side, and within weeks I had another fake identity setup by a muggle forger. I gave the second identity to a muggle traveller and got myself a third set of identity from another muggle forger. In this one I deliberately gave a lot of details wrong, so that it wouldn't show up in any search made on my description. I figured that if anyone pointed it out I'll just confound the guy.

"But in general I was determined not to use magic at all unless my life or the life of you two depended on it."

"But hold on," interrupted Andromeda, "Wouldn't You-know-who be able to track you with his magical mark?"

Pollux had been wondering that himself. The Dark Mark worked in two steps. First, during the branding, the Dark Lord places a spell on the memory of the event, so that every time someone remembers the event He would know of it. And second, when the Dark Lord summons a follower a sharp pain reminds the wearer of the occasion when he or she was originally branded. Once both steps are completed the Dark Lord knows where the bearer of the mark is and can either bring them to himself, or take himself to their location.

"I don't know. Several times my Mark flared, but I couldn't dare think of the Dark Lord - if I was tempted even for a second it would have been my downfall. I forced myself to think only of my children."

Of course. A sufficiently strong occlumens could force themselves to not recollect the memory of the branding, and interfere with step two. The Dark Lord would never even have realized she was alive. Trust Bellatrix to unwittingly come up with a way to break one of his better spells!

* * *

"I had you two in a muggle hospital. I decided to name you after the Gemini - it's an Black tradition to name their children after the Stars after all - with the second name of Black since I myself had renounced my husband when I left the Dark Lord. I gave different names at the hospital, of course, but in my own mind you were always Castor and Pollux.

"I found that life was tough for a single woman with children in muggle Britain. But I had one thing in my favour - my good looks. At the earliest I convinced a muggle to marry me, and with a husband and children I was respectable enough when I moved into a new muggle neighborhood."

Pollux wondered if magic potions were involved or just plain old fashioned seduction. Probably the latter, seeing as Bellatrix was trying not get herself noticed by the magical world.

"I convinced myself I was just an ordinary muggle. I convinced myself I was going to stay in this neighbourhood forever. I convinced myself I would never return to the wizarding world.

"That is why when my new husband started hitting me, I did not turn him into a toad and step on him."

Bellatrix had tears in her eyes and Pollux was suprised to find himself having an irrational anger at this unnamed muggle who dared beat her.

"What was his name, mother?" He asked quietly.

Bellatrix must have seen something in his eyes, because she wiped her tears and said "It doesn't matter any can't harm me now."

"Perhaps we should talk about it when they're older...", suggested Andromeda.

Bellatrix seemed confused before looking at the twins with worry in her eyes. She must have liked what she saw because she got a shrewd look in her eyes as she said, "No, they can handle it. They are very mature for their age - and I can only thank your wise upbringing, Andy. I don't know how I would have raised them."

Andromeda blushed at the praise.

Bellatrix continued, "My only worry then was for the two of you. I didn't want to upset your life, and for that I had to pull in reserves of patience I didn't know I had. At some point I started thinking I deserved all the punishment I was getting - both for who I was and who I had been.

"And then my whole life changed again. On the Halloween when you were just two years old, my Dark Mark stopped hurting and all but disappeared. The Dark Lord was gone!

"Of course I had no way of being sure. I didn't even dare hope. But the signs were all there. A discreet trip to the Leaky Cauldron just confirmed it for me. The Dark lord was gone and I could return to the magic world!"

She paused as if trying to remember something painful.

"I could just stay in the muggle world, I suppose, but I missed my magic. And it wasn't like I had a dream life with the muggles.

"I wondered what to do about my husband. I wanted to crucio him till he went mad from the pain - but I wondered if I wanted to go back to the same dark place I had left. In the end I just obliviated and left him one day and went to Andy."

_No way she left it at just that_, thought Pollux, but before he could interrupt Andromeda picked up the tale... "This was in the middle of November, I think. I must have hexed her pretty good before I realized she wasn't shooting back." She grinned at the memory.

"A good thing I wasn't, or else you'd be dead", muttered Bellatrix, showing some of her old fire. Turning to the boys she said, "She didn't believe me at first, but I convinced her I had defected to the Light side, so to speak."

Not to mention Andromeda would have been Bellatrix's only hope. If she had gone to Narcissa there's no saying what Lucius would have done. He could have killed her in revenge for betraying the Dark Lord or handed her over to aurors to support his own story of being under the Impreius. Or, knowing him, he would have killed her first and then informed the aurors, spinning a story of how the Dark Lord's most fanatical follower came after him and he was forced to kill in self-defence.

"If I hadn't believed that, I had to believe what she said next," continued Andromeda, "She wanted to leave the two of you in my care and turn herself over to the aurors."

She got up and started pacing, "It was a bad time. Crouch, Bartemius Crouch that is, the boss of the aurors, was putting people into Azkaban without trials. I tried to convince her not to do it, but she wouldn't listen."

"I had to face punishment for everything I had done. Even if I had to spend fifty years in Azkaban, I wanted to be able to say I paid for my crimes when I came out" Bellatrix said, holding herself up with pride.

"Then something unexpected happened; Crouch's son was found to be a Death Eater!" continued Andromeda "Crouch just had to resign from his post, and he was replaced by Amelia Bones. Bones was known for being a stickler for the rules, so we figured now was the right time to turn herself up."

"Ooh I remember Barty Crouch - the son I mean. He was one creepy fellow." Bellatrix shivered theatrically.

_Pollux had to bite his teeth to refrain from making any comments about pots calling kettles black._

Andromeda favoured Bellatrix with a skeptical look and continued, "But of course we weren't about to let her meet the head of the DMLE without legal representation. We convinced the Black family barrister, that's Mr. Graves we met last summer, to take her case to the wizengamot.

"The case went on for nearly a year. The prosecution wanted to throw the book at her, but they didn't really have any notable evidence on her. The only reason she got sent to Azkaban was because she didn't claim she was under the Imperius unlike some others I could mention." Finished Andromeda.

"Well you could hardly expect me to behave like that poofter who married Cissy", began Bellatrix knowing who Andromeda was referring to, but stopped in confusion at the stern look Andromeda was giving her.

Her confusion was relieved when Castor piped up "Mum, Aunt Andy does not want you to use bad words where we young impressionable children can hear and learn them." Just like that, with perfect seriousness.

Both the adults gaped at Castor before they started laughing. It seemed the tension in the room was suddenly gone.

* * *

After that Bellatrix became a part of the household. It seemed she had no marketable skills in the wizarding world, and even in the muggle world she had been a full-time housewife. So she decided to pay her rent by helping Andromeda with household chores.

It became immediately obvious that household chores and Bellatrix Black were a bad combination. Over a period of four months several garden gnomes, doxies, spiders and various vegetables must have died painful and brutal deaths at the hands of Lord Voldemort's former favourite and most vicious, before Andromeda decided to stage an intervention and send Bellatrix out job hunting.

Bellatrix tried every shop in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley before she announced one day that she had been hired as a store assistant at Zonko's.

Her announcement was met by silence. Pollux wondered if Zonko was in fact as insane as he pretended to be.

Bellatrix, apparently undisturbed by the silence, continued "I have a uniform too. It's a jester's uniform, but modified to fit a woman."

Castor sharply drew his breath and muttered something that sounded to Pollux like "bloody harlequin". It was obvious he was trying very hard not to laugh. Pollux himself pitied the poor children who would visit the store and get traumatized by the sight of Bellatrix dressed like a clown.

But to everyone's surprise, Bellatrix was actually good at her job. It seemed her combination of overenthusiasm and insanity was a good fit at Zonko's. With the clown make-up on what most people say was a beautiful energetic woman with a good figure. It seemed sales had increased at Zonko's.

At some point of time Bellatrix found out that Sirius was in Azkaban without a trial. She started pestering Mr. Graves to see if he could get Sirius's sentence reduced. He agreed to try, but made no promises.

In time the twins were eleven, and their letter to Hogwarts arrived.

* * *

Author's Note. Whew. Another chapter finished. Man, these chapters are growing longer and longer!

I got this finished faster than I expected. I'll try to post the next chapter in the middle of next week, or the weekend after.

Please read & review.


	6. Hogwarts

"Thank you for agreeing to see me Headmaster"

"Not at all Miss Black. I'm always glad to help one of my former students. I just wish you had asked for my help much, much earlier."

Bellatrix fumed. This was exactly why she hadn't approached Dumbledore earlier, his habit of insistently pointing out the mistakes of others and then making a big show of forgiving them for it. She wouldn't have approached him now, but Mr Graves assured her that at this point, as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Albus Dumbledore was the best hope getting Sirius a trial.

"Be as that may be, Headmaster, I am not here today about myself."

"Ah, yes. Your sons will be starting Hogwarts next year, is it not so?"

Nobody was supposed to know of her sons except Andromeda. So of course Albus Dumbledore knew all about it.

Well, not all it seemed "Actually headmaster, they start this year." Bellatrix replied with a smirk.

"My, how time flies. It seemed just yesterday... but never mind all that. How are the boys? Do they take after you or their father?"

Bellatrix paused at the question and realized Dumbledore was trying to get her to tell who the father of the boys was. She knew what he suspected; a young passionate woman, beautiful, favourite of the Dark Lord as she was back in the day, it would be quite the logical thing to suspect - that the Dark Lord was the father of the twins.

Let him keep suspecting. She was damned if she would tell Dumbledore of all people who the father was, before she told the twins themselves.

"They are very clever and quite ambitious - so probably Slytherin or Ravenclaw" she said, purposefully misinterpreting the intent of his question.

She didn't mention that Pollux seemed to be on a crusade to convince Castor to go into Hufflepuff after Nymphadora. No boy of hers was going into Hufflepuff, and that was for sure!

Dumbledore hmm'ed and aah'ed appropriately.

"But I'm not here to talk about all that, Headmaster. I'm here to ask for your help to get my cousing Sirius out of Azkaban."

"Surely you don't expect me to release a convicted criminal out in the public Miss Black."

"No, of course not. But Sirius has not had a trial. I just want him to get the justice he deserves."

"Miss Black-" began Dumbledore but was swiftly interrupted by Bellatrix.

"Headmaster, look... you know about my life, what I have done. I could have done what others have done and claimed that I was under an Imperius to whatever I have done. But I didn't do that; I went before a court of law and faced justice for what I have done. If I and free now, it is because I have earned it. That is what I want for Sirius."

"As I seem to recall", countered Dumbledore, "over four-fifths of the charges against you had to be dropped due to lack of witnesses."

"Well that's the prosecutor's fault, isn't it? I faced justice, but I was hardly going to do that without a full knowledge of how the system of justice works. If you think what the courts punished me with was insufficient, then that's a problem between you and the courts. There is nothing more that I could have done!"

Bellatrix had become visibly upset by this point, but she seemed to have realized this and calmed herself.

"Headmaster... I am not asking that Sirius go free. I just want him to have the trial he should have had years ago. I won't complain if the court sentences him to a hundred years after the trial; I will be there outside Azkaban, waiting for Sirius, a hundred years from now. I just want him to face justice, whatever it may entail. Surely even you have to admit that it's nothing more or less than he deserves!"

Dumbledore looked pensive. "What you say does make sense, Miss Black. But what I'm wondering about is what you would get from all this? What do you really want?"

Bellatrix was exasperated at the old man. "Is it not enough that he is my family? Why do I have to have an ulterior motive?"

Dumbledore looked at her shrewdly "I seem to remember you, in your years at Hogwarts, were the ultimate Slytherin. I think my skepticism is rather called for."

Bellatrix sighed. "I have always placed an importance on family. I married a man I did not love because my family wanted me to. When I joined the Dark Lord it was because he promised glory and power to my family. When I left the Dark Lord it was because he was the cause of over half of my family ending up dead.

"I don't have a lot of family left, Dumbledore. I am trying to do right by what little I have left, and if you can't see that, _then the hell with you!_"

"Such a wonderful sentiment, Miss Black. It always warms my heart to see such passionate affection. Very well, I give you my word that I shall do everything in my power to get Mr Black a trial. But alas, I must ask something of you; for we are not in a position where I can give this to you for nought...

**"What will you give me in return, Bellatrix?"**

* * *

"Slytherin!" cried the hat as soon as it was placed on Castor's head. Pollux groaned to himself.

He'd known Castor was not a Hufflepuff by any means no matter how much Pollux had tried to brainwash him with Nymphadora's name but he'd still hoped that Castor could go to Ravenclaw at least.

He'd even been hopeful when another set of twins, the Weasleys, had shared their compartment and Castor seemed to have liked them immediately. Within the half an hour they had been there, somehow Castor had managed to pick up an alliance, a feud, and declared a prank war with them. But when it came to houses, Castor insisted his family had always been in Slytherin, right as the Weasleys insisted their family had always been in Gryffindor. Gryffindor wouldn't have been too bad.

Oh, there was nothing wrong with Slytherin, he would be the first one to tell you that. But the trouble with Slytherin is that it made it too easy for a budding dark lord to become, well, an actual dark lord.

Ah well. No use crying over spilt milk. He'd have to go there as well and keep an eye on the little bastard.

"Hmm... very difficult" claimed the Hat in his head. "Oh dear. You seem to have been quite the naughty boy - or should I say, the naughty dark lord, Mr Tom Riddle"

Pollux maintained a calm facade but inside he was panicking. "How did you- of course you know, you can read my bloody head. Will you tell Dumbledore?"

"Much as I would want to, the Founders place an enchantment on me that prevents me from revealing anything I learn of any child of their life prior to Hogwarts. So your secret is safe with me, Tom. Or maybe Pollux is a more appropriate apellation now...

"Now, where to sort you... the ambition is definitely there, but more so there is a thirst for knowledge... Maybe Ravenclaw would suit you best..."

"No, I have to go to Slytherin after my brother!"

"Ah, such loyalty. Maybe Hufflepuff is your house..."

"Dear God, no. Please put me in Slytherin!"

"Slytherin? Are you sure? You've already been there once, how about something different this time? No? Alright, then it must be-

"_SLYTHERIN!_" cried the hat aloud.

Pollux got up and joined his brother, who was clapping politely for him.

The feast was as delicious as he remembered from his first time. Then Dumbledore got up and said something utterly ridiculous. And here he was thinking Dippet used to be ridiculous. Maybe Dumbledore learnt his headmastering from Dippet.

After they had been, in the words of the Headmaster, watered and fed, they were led down to the dungeons by Severus Snape, who then gave them a lecture on what it means to be Slytherin.

* * *

Pollux was impressed with Severus. Where Horace Slughorn used to be all "Alright chaps, let's all have a jolly good time for the next seven years" Severus approached the entire exercise with an attitude of "I'm your worst nightmare." If Dumbledore followed the style of Armando Dippet, Severus it seemed was inspired by the style of Lord Voldemort.

They say that imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery, and at this moment Pollux was quite flattered.

Pollux felt bad about what he'd done to Severus in his past life. This was the man who had remained always loyal to him even with the greatest of temptations to waver. Severus had been nothing but faithful - for god's sakes he'd killed Dumbledore! And how had he, Tom Riddle, rewarded that? 'You are a faithful servant, Severus, but only I can live forever'. And he hadn't even had the decency to grant him a painless death with the killing curse - no, he had to use the snake.

Pollux decided, just then, that no matter what happens, he'll try to keep Severus safe this time around. Even if Severus never abandoned the Dark Lord - after all, if Albus Dumbledore couldn't turn him around, what chance would he, Pollux Black, have - even then he would save Severus.

The object of his thoughts seemed to have finished his speech and Pollux politely applauded. It turned out he was the only one to do so, so he stopped in embarrassment. Severus looked amused, though, and approached him.

"Mr. Black. If you don't mind, would you please accompany me?"

"Yes sir. Where are we going?"

"To the Headmaster's office. He wishes to discuss something with you, soething related to your mother."

Castor insinuated himself into the conversation at this point "What about me? Why are you taking only him?"

"Because at this point, the Headmaster wants to talk to only him."

That seemed to be the end of it and Pollux walked behind Severus to Dumbledore's office. His heart was pounding. Had he been found out already? No, Severus said it had something to do with his mother. What was Bellatrix discussing with Dumbledore? He thought it had something to do with the release of Sirius Black. What could he do about that?

Maybe he could let it slip that Pettigrew was the real traitor, but then he, Pollux Black, would have no realistic way of knowing that.

His musing was interrupted when they reached the office. "Butter biscuits", Severus sneered at the gargoyles and they let him in. Dumbledore asked Pollux to sit down and summarily dismissed Severus.

As soon as Severus left and the door closed, ropes shot out of the chair Pollux was sitting in and tied him to it. He panicked, but could do nothing to free himself from the chair. His wand was in his pocket, but he couldn't reach it. He looked up to see Dumbledore, who had a grave expression, and had his wand pointed straight at Pollux.

_"Is there anything you wish to tell me, before I kill you,_ **_TOM RIDDLE_**?"

* * *

Author's note: Well that took a lot more time than I expected. Serves me right for trying to promise timelines, huh?

I wrote several sequences for this chapter, like the boys shopping in Diagon Alley, Wand shopping at Ollivander's, Meeting the Weasley twins in the train, etc. and discarded all of them because they were bloody boring. I was bored, and I wrote the bloody thing, so I can hardly expect the readers to be engrossed, right?

This chapter turned out a bit short, but I think I'm getting the hang of writing a well edited chapter by now. As you can make out by the ending, the action is going to break out in the next chapter - so hopefully, no more boring chapters.

Finally, please review, tell me if you like it, tell me if it sucks, tell me if something could be better. Until next chapter, cheerio!


	7. Confrontations

_**Previously, on Mission: Redemption**_

_As soon as Severus left and the door closed, ropes shot out of the chair Pollux was sitting in and tied him to it. He panicked, but could do nothing to free himself from the chair. His wand was in his pocket, but he couldn't reach it. He looked up to see Dumbledore, who had a grave expression, and had his wand pointed straight at Pollux._

_"Is there anything you wish to tell me, before I kill you, TOM RIDDLE?"_

* * *

As Dumbledore circled around the desk with his wand trained on Pollux, Pollux fought hard to keep the panic down and keep a level expression. He wondered if he should play innocent, but decided he'd blown that approach by giving a chagrined expression when the chair locked and then carefully schooling his expressions to give away nothing. Any ordinary kid would be visibly panicking by now.

He huffed, and asked "How did you know?"

The Headmaster seemed surprised that Pollux did not try to deny everything. "The Sorting Hat, of course. There's little you can hide from a magical artifact that can read the deepest and most hidden parts of who you are."

Pollux shook his head ruefully "Figures. That blasted rag fed me a story of how the Founders had placed a charm on it to shut it up, and I bought it."

"Oh, but the Founders did place a charm on it to keep the life of a student prior to Hogwarts, a secret." Dumbledore informed him cheerfully, "But it has no compulsion to keep the life of any student after Hogwarts a secret. Something that I've found most convenient recently."

What he didn't say was that this loophole was discovered a mere hundred years after the death of the last founder to die (Helga Hufflepuff), and had been passed as a secret from Headmaster to Headmaster - and the occasional Headmistress. Albus may have been brilliant, but he was hardly the first brilliant wizard to head Hogwarts.

The hat naturally didn't blab about every wizard masquerading as children, possessing children, reincarnations, time-travellers, and other such anomalies the moment it sat on somebody's head. It revealed such information later to the Headmaster, privately, and only on request. That meant that at some point of time Albus had to have told the Hat to watch out for Tom Riddle in any form. He was actually glad he'd done it in 1981 instead of waiting till the year Harry Potter came to school. He'd only done it because of his suspicions - he fervently hoped they were not true, but he did have the suspicions - of the foul magic in little Harry's scar. Never had he imagined that some other student would turn out to be hiding the Dark Lord - especially the near squib kid of Bellatrix! But that did make a certain kind of sense if he thought about it.

Albus indicated none of this to his current guest, however.

He sat on the desk, resting one leg on the handle of the chair Pollux was sitting on. His wand was still pointed at Pollux.

"I got the who, I'll figure out the how soon enough. What I don't get, is the why. Why come here Tom? Why now? Why take the risk of coming here at all?"

Pollux suddenly realized that Dumbledore thought he was the spirit of Voldemort having possessed Pollux Black since childhood. He himself suspected that about Castor, but evidently Castor had nothing in his head that the Sorting Hat would catch. This was good, though - all he had to do was tell Dumbledore that the Voldemort he was looking for was probably haunting the forests of Albania.

"I'm not the one you think I am," he started "the mmmmpgh!"

He blinked. Huh. A tongue tying curse. Looks like he wasn't going to tell anything to Dumbledore.

"The what?" inquired Dumbledore.

"I can't say it!" said a worried Pollux.

"Maybe I can help you with that..." said Dumbledore, as he brought his wand closer to Pollux's neck.

* * *

_(The previous day)_

It was almost a week after he had met with Bellatrix that Albus was able to arrange for the Black's attorney, Mr Graves, to visit Sirius Black in Azkaban. He had a twenty minute meeting (the details of which were confidential from Albus, of course), and at the end of it Sirius seemed to have insisted - much against the advice of his solicitor - on giving witness via Veritaserum. Sirius, it seemed, believed that the truth shall set him free.

After his meeting with Graves ended Albus sat down in worry. Was Sirius really innocent? Or simply too insane to care? Sirius wanted something to be public knowledge, that was the only conclusion he could draw, but what?

It was no secret that he considered Sirius one of his greatest failures.

He had been so overjoyed when a scion of the Black family turned out to be in Gryffindor, and friends with not only the son of Charlus, but also a werewolf. He had even overlooked the childish pranks of the "Marauders" as they called themselves. But occasionally Sirius Black would show hints of such darkness that Albus would start questioning himself if it was all worth it. Like that time Sirius almost got both Severus and Remus killed. He - Albus, that is - had gotten rid of Severus, who had wanted all of the Marauders put in Azkaban, with difficulty... but then he'd sat down with Sirius and had a talk with him for almost two hours. At the end of it, even Sirius's pureblood facade had broken down and he was in unashamed tears of remorse. Things like that had given Albus hope for Sirius.

It had been James Potter who had saved Severus - and hence even Remus and Sirius - that day, and Albus thought it would be James who would be the saviour of Sirius. For as long as James stayed on the path of light, Sirius would follow him there as well. And, because of Lily Evans, James was sure to stay on the path of the light.

In the end it was Severus who had surprised him. For him to have chosen his current path when he was in the depths to which he had fallen - even Albus found that unfathomable. It was one thing to talk about hard choices, it was entirely another to actually make those choices when your own hide was involved. For all his talk of the power of love, Albus had never believed the power of Lily's love would ever redeem Severus.

He had wondered then if he shouldn't have bothered with Sirius at all and paid more attention to Severus.

Now, he was wondering if Sirius was his failure - or had he failed Sirius?

* * *

_(Now)_

"Fascinating. It seems you are under a conditional _Langlock_ curse, but what is more interesting is that it is part of your magic. As far as I can make out, you were born with this curse."

"Is that's what making me weak in magic?" asked Pollux despite himself.

"No, I'm pretty sure that's because... well, let's just say you can call yourself a sandwich." answered Dumbledore.

"What..." Pollux was confused.

"Alas, it would seem muggle humour is lost on the wizard-raised. Now, it seems to me somebody has taken great pains to prevent you from talking" concluded Dumbledore after finishing his examination.

"So what now, old man" asked Pollux.

"Why don't we find out what you can talk about" suggested Dumbledore cheerfully.

* * *

_(The previous day)_

After Graves had left, Albus had made a trip of his own - unauthorized - to Sirius's cell, before the guards came to collect him. What he had learned from Sirius in those ten minutes had him shaken.

Sirius was, or at least believed himself to be, innocent.

Albus maintained a firm facade till he returned to Hogwarts. There, once in his office, the full extent of his failure came crashing onto him and he collapsed in sobs.

* * *

_(Now)_

"So, you are from a future timeline. And you can't tell me anthing about what is happening right now, but you can tell me things from the far future." Dumbledore concluded.

"So it would seem"

"And this curse of yours also seems to make you resistant to legilimency in that particular area - not to disparage your occlumency skills, of course, they are formidable."

But not good enough to keep Dumbledore out, Pollux could read between the lines.

"Well then there's only one thing to do. You can confirm what I already know as true about the Voldemort of this timeline."

"Wait, you believe me?" asked Pollux surprised. "What if this is a trap by Voldemort?" He regretted his outburst immediately. If this was a trap by Voldemort, he should have kept his mouth shut.

But Dumbledore didn't seem to mind "If it's a trap, it's a trap." which probably meant he had other backup plans in case of traps "we must not let ourselves lose our faith over fear. To do so would be to undermine everything we are fighting for.

"So, yes, Pollux. I do believe you. I believe you showed true remorse after your death, and I believe you redeemed yourself by putting your own soul together."

"Funny, your future counterpart seemed to think I needed to do more for my redemption. That's why he sent me back!" sneered Pollux.

At that Dumbledore gaveone of his insufferable mysterious smiles "Ah my boy. But are you sure you were sent back for _YOUR_ redemption?"

* * *

_(Yesterday)_

Albus's outburst didn't last long. One did not become Supreme Mugwump without being able to compose oneself in times of distress.

Now was not the time to cry. Now was the time to act, to do something to get Sirius out.

The question was... how?

He didn't have the political capital to bring about Sirius's trial. Lucius had the minister's ears, and even though the minister turned to Albus for advice, it was to Lucius that he turned to counsel. Albus had underestimated Lucius Malfoy over the years, as most old teachers are wont to do to their former students, and he was now paying the price for that.

He wouldn't hesitate to expend his entire political capital to free Sirius, but he had to be realistic. To do so, now, he would expend all of his political capital and not get Sirius out.

But what if...

_What if the demand for Sirius's trial came from the other side?_

* * *

_(Now)_

"So you, that is the present Voldemort, took steps to ensure his immortality."

"Yes" replied Pollux.

"And the steps he took was the _Amulet of Ra_."

Pollux choked at that.

"_Horcruxes_?" continued Dumbledore.

To his surprise Pollux choked on that as well.

Dumbledore would have continued naming means of immortality (a few of these even Pollux did not know!) but Pollux interrupted, "Headmaster... the magic seems to know you are guessing. I can only confirm what you KNOW."

"Hmm... that's vexing."

Dumbledore paced around the room, thinking while Pollux watched nervously.

"Well my boy" he finally said "It looks like I need to know more before I can get anything confirmed from you. I'm afraid our interview must draw to a close at this.

_**"OBLIVIATE!"**_

Pollux was still feeling dizzy when he heard Dumbledore's voice "And so my boy, you can tell your mother I did my best for Sirius, but sadly, it was not enough. Oh, and rumours that I am deliberately holding back Sirius's trial because of the guardianship of Harry Potter is patently false. Good day, my boy."

* * *

Author's note:Here's an approximate timeline for my story so far:

- Early 1979: Bellatrix discovers she is pregnant. She fakes her death and disappears into the muggle world.

- July 1979: Castor and Pollux are born

- (Possibly) April 1980: Sybill Trelawney makes a prophecy regarding the vanquishment of the Dark Lord

- July 1980: Harry (and Neville) are born. Some time later both the Potters and Longbottoms go into hiding.

- October 1981: Voldemort is vanquished for the first time. Harry becomes 'boy-who-lived'.

- December 1981: Bellatrix returns to Andromeda.

- Early 1982: Barty Crouch Jr. is revealed to be a Death Eater. Bartemius Crouch Sr. resigns and is replaced by Amelia Bones.

- Early 1982: Bellatrix surrenders herself to the Aurors

- December 1982: Bellatrix is sentenced to five years in Azkaban (mainly due to good lawyers and scanty evidence)

- 1983: Tom Riddle awakes as Pollux Black

- 1985: Pollux learns about one half of his parentage

- 25 December 1987: Bellatrix is released

- 24/25 August 1990: Bellatrix meets Dumbledore

- 31 August 1990: Dumbledore visits Sirius in Azkaban

- 1 September 1990: The Black twins start Hogwarts.


	8. Room of Lost Things

**Previously:**

_Pollux was still feeling dizzy when he heard Dumbledore's voice "And so my boy, you can tell your mother I did my best for Sirius, but sadly, it was not enough. Oh, and rumours that I am deliberately holding back Sirius's trial because of the guardianship of Harry Potter is patently false. Good day, my boy."_

* * *

As Pollux stepped outside, he wondered why Dumbledore's obliviation hadn't took hold. Was it that the unknown magic protecting his mind from revealing anything to Dumbledore was also protecting his mind in other ways? Certainly not his occlumency. Oh, he'd built perfect mindscapes and walls, but his mental shielding just didn't have the magical power behind it.

Dumbledore had just showed how justified he had always been in fearing him. People thought that it was courage that was the most dangerous quality of Gryffindors, but that was not exactly true. Everyone was capable of courage under the right circumstances. Even Slytherins. Especially Slytherins. But if you knew what they feared and what they wanted it was easy to control them. You had to put what they wanted in the front and what they feared behind them and watch them run.

Ravenclaws were motivated by knowledge and they feared being stupid. Ravenclaws were easy to control.

Hufflepuffs are motivated by loyalty and fear, well, just about anything. Hufflepuffs were easy to control.

Slytherins are motivated by self-interest or family and fear death and torture. Slytherins were easy to control.

But Gryffindors - well they have their motivations and fears - but you never know when they will overcome their fears, let go of what they want, and act completley opposite to their self interest purely out of some misguided noble motives.

What made Gryffindors really dangerous were their complete unpredictability and the nearly complete impossibility of control. They used to drive him bloody crazy.

_Oh what a fool he'd been!_ Of course Dumbledore was not going to kill him - even Albus Dumbledore could not get away with publicly calling afirst year student and killing him!

If he'd only kept his cool he'd have realized Dumbledore was just keeping him off balance so he would talk freely; and talk freely he did! If it were not for that unknown magic Dumbledore would have had the entire biography of Voldemort by now.

And of course Dumbledore would obliviate him at the end of the interview. Can't have children going around claiming the headmaster threatened to kill them. For a moment he, Pollux, was tempted to do exactly that, but decided he'd done enough mistakes for today. He was going to plan carefully whatever he did next.

Pollux was worried. He had never panicked like this before; that is he had never known such panic when he was Tom Riddle.

Oh, he had fears. Fear of death, fear of failure. Even a fear of Dumbledore.

But it had always been a sort of constant gnawing fear, a sort of crushing feeling at the pit of his stomach. Not like this, the raw fear, the heart pumping like it would leap of of his chest, the hands going cold, the prickling on his skin and the sweat on his forehead.

_Was his body defective?_

As he walked towards the dorm, Pollux was coming down from the feeling of thrill he ws feeling, but his mind was racing a mile a minute.

He found it amusing that Dumbledore knew more illegal and immoral means of immortality and power than he himself. Not for the first time he wondered if he should have played nicer with the old man the first time around.

What he was worried about, was that Horcruxes had been Dumbledore's second guess - and that too Horcruxes, in plural! Had Dumbledore seen one of his Horcruxes already?

_Wait. Think this through._ Even if Dumbledore destroyed all of his Horcruxes, it wouldn't kill him - Pollux Black, that is - it would kill the other Voldemort that was roaming around Albania right now. In fact, it was probably better for him all around, if the other Voldemort was destroyed. For what sort of mercy would a Dark Lord give a weaker and remorsefull version of himself?

Dumbledore's first guess was more intriguing, though. _The Amulet of Ra_! Seriously, where does Dumbledore pull these things out of! Although for an artefact always referred to as "The" there were in fact about five of them, all of them were thought to be lost. Did Dumbledore seriously think Voldemort had nothing better to do than to traipse around in Egyptian pyramids looking for lost artefacts?

And the fact that its means of immortality was nigh impractical - he had read about it in a tome in the Chamber of Secrets - which was why he'd decided on Horcruxes in the first place. First you have to find a woman who was not only pregnant, but pregnant with twins, and... oh.

Wait, this was silly. He was Voldemort, and he'd never used that method. He could remember it clearly enough.

But what if... could he even trust his memory? How would he know whether he really was the Dark Lord once, or just the possessor of his memories now? Was all the pain, all the remorse he'd felt false? Was it just a hallucination? Illusions?

Was he just the backup plan for a Dark Lord's immortality?

Maybe there was a way to find out...

* * *

The Room of Hidden Things was exactly as he remembered it. Piles and piles of what were junk to most people, but were probably treasures to a few long past dead. There was little organization apart from hundreds of years of lost students deciding "this looks like a good place to toss my crap".

He knew he was pushing it because Castor was probably expecting him back at the dorms by now, but he just had to know.

If he could just find what he was looking for, he could be out of here and make up a story about having lost his way coming back. That was quite believable, since that happened to just about every first year.

But the object he was looking for eluded him. It was inevitable - he didn't where it would be, or even if it was there at all. He had no right to expect this to be quick.

Suddenly, he thought he heard something and turned behind with his wand drawn.

Was that footsteps?

Was someone else in here? He couldn't see anyone.

Maybe he was getting nervous again. _Concentrate_.

He finished scanning what could loosely be termed a "row" and started another.

This time he heard something for sure.

But before he could turn he heard the voice of Castor from behind, "Looking for this, Tom Riddle?"

He turned slowly to see Castor Black pointing his wand at Pollux. His other hand held the Diadem of Ravenclaw.

* * *

Pollux's wand was in his hand, but Castor's wand was pointed straight at him. Pollux had no doubt Castor knew more spells and curses than your average Hogwarts student on his first night in the castle - in fact, he would have been willing to bet Castor knew more than most fourth years. Pollux held his wand but made no move to bring it up to point at Castor.

"You didn't put that on, did you?" He asked Castor, indicating the diadem.

Castor seem surprised at the question "Of course not! What sort of idiot do you take me to be!"

Pollux let out a breath he had not realized he was holding. "Then how do you know the name of Tom Riddle?"

Castor smirked. "Pretty much the same way _YOU_ know that name."

Pollux closed his eyes "So it is true what I thought." he opened his eyes.

Castor started circling for a better shot "You have always been a genius."

Pollux was alert to every movement Castor made, and his eyes never wavered. "True. And hubris has always been one of my failings."

Castor chuckled but looked at him oddly "Yes, I suppose it has."

"Yes it has" Pollux repeated. "That is why I don't think of obvious things. For example, how do you plan on killing me in the middle of a school?"

"I don't want to kill you. Well, not yet anyway." replied Castor "I was just curious what you were up to."

"Ah yes." Pollux replied "Curiosity has also been one of our failings, hasn't it Tom."

"Sure, well... _wait, did you just call me-_"

"**STUPEFY!**"

Castor never got the answer to his question because Pollux had taken advantage of his surprise, and immediately followed the stunner with a shield and ducked under cover. And even as Pollux cast, Castor was already moving behind a pile of old furniture.

Pollux peeked from behind the bales of old bedsheets he had used as cover (rather apt use, in a way) and saw the Castor was not visible, but the diadem had been dropped on the floor. Castor was undoubtedly moving in cover to get a better shot at Pollux, which is what Pollux should be doing if he wanted to get at Castor.

_The game was on._

* * *

Pollux ran out from behind the pile of books, dived and rolled over like he'd been taught in the muggle fighting class, and pointed his wand at where Castor was.. or rathr should have been if he'd stayed in the same place.

Pollux turned quickly and ran towards the movement he saw from across another pile of mixed refuse.

He ran around the other side of the pile hoping to cut Castor off, only to stop and turn back when Castor didn't turn up in time to match his apparent speed.

Pollux turned and put his back to the pile and swung his wand around covering both sides. Will Castor come from the left or will he come from the right?

Castor came from on top of the pile.

Decades of dueling experience in another life was the only reason why Pollux almost felt the bone breaker even before Castor cast it and shielded himself. He cast a Sectumsempra in return but Castor simply dodged and continued to advance. When he was a mere ten feet away from Pollux Castor did something Pollux was definitely not expecting.

_He threw his wand right at Pollux's face._

Caught unprepared, Pollux couldn't help flinching as the wand bounced off his face, and in the split second his eyes were closed Castor had already come within the range of his wand and his arm. Before Pollux could bring his hand in closer to curse Castor, Castor punched him.

He immediately followed it with a vicious job on the side of Pollux's head with the elbow. Pollux turned his head with the hit to minimize impact and brought his and around to curse, when Castor intercepted his hand and locked it under his own.

Castor punched again but this time Pollux grabbed his arm. Castor tried to free his hand but Pollux held it, staggering slightly forward. Castor came closer and jabbed Pollux's chest with a swift kick with his knee.

Pollux felt the air being knocked out of his lungs and he was quite dazed from the pain.

Before the pain would even subside Castor ruthlessly pressed his advantage and threw Pollux on the ground. With one of his nands still holding Pollux's wand hand, he wrapped a leg around Pollux's neck and wrapped his other leg around the first. And then he squeezed.

Pollux tried to free himself but found his only free hand lazily swatted aside by Castor's free hand.

_As he started to black out due to the blood flow to his brain getting squeezed, Pollux's last thought was that Castor certainly didn't learn that move at the Taekwondo class..._

* * *

Author's note: This is one of the first sequences that I envisioned when I planned this story, and that's why this chapter came about a bit quickly. I had wanted the fight to be a bit more awesome, but turns out I suck as a fight choreographer. Well, Hollywood won't be hiring me any time soon, but the end effect has a bit of rawness that I personally feel makes the fight better.

As always, please read and review, do tell me if you thought it was good, if it could be better or if it was entirely horrible.


	9. Mission, part II

_As he started to black out due to the blood flow to his brain getting squeezed, Pollux's last thought was that Castor certainly didn't learn that move at the Taekwondo class..._

* * *

"Enervate."

Pollux woke up to find himself tied to a chair, and facing Castor. Castor's wand was in his hand, held with the deceptive looseness of the hyper-alert.

"So you didn't kill me." Pollux observed.

"I already said I was just there to watch, Pollux." chided Castor. "Why did you call me Tom?"

Pollux didn't reply. He wasn't in the mood for another interrogation today.

But of course that was not about to stop Castor... "No answers? Let's move on to something else then... what did Dumbledore want with you?"

"He wanted to know why there is a child with the memories of Tom Riddle in his school."

"How did he... oh yeah, the Hat of course."

Pollux was surprised that Castor guessed correctly immediately. Did everyone know it apart from him? Wait... it was looking more apparent that Castor was in no way Tom Riddle. But what if he was someone else? Someone who know the secret of the Sorting Hat. Someone... like Albus Dumbledore.

He didn't voice his guess. He wasn't about to risk the embarrassment of another wrong guess in front of Castor.

"So Dumbledore told the hat to watch out for little pieces of Tom Riddle, and the Hat got you because you have all of his memories. Huh. I bet he scared out the entire truth of why you are really here, judging by how shaky you looked when you came out of his office."

He must have been really shaky if he hadn't noticed an observer, Pollux thought.

"Now Dumbledore knows everything, and he... just let you go?" Castor speculated.

"He tried to memory charm me."

"Ah. Hmm. Yes, that makes sense. That would actually have been a good plan - if it had worked. Every time he finds something new, bam - he calls you into his office under some pretext, repeats the whole scary routine and confirms all of his guesses, then obliviates you and send you back. Meanwhile, you - unaware that Dumbledore is on to you - carry out whatever plot you have without undue paranoia. Hey. Trust Albus to come up with the most ruthless method of giving mercy to his enemies!" Castor sounded quite admiring of Dumbledore.

Pollux was miffed. His anger got the better of his control and he said "Well Dumbledore does not know about the other Voldemort roaming Albania as a disembodied..." Pollux stopped. How was he able to tell everything to Castor.

Castor seemed to have interpreted his confusion correctly "I already know all this Pollux, but in any case... I am a special exception to your little Non-Disclosure Disagreement. As you are to mine."

"And what secrets do you have?" asked Pollux.

* * *

_(Somewhere between life and death: Sometime in the past... or in the future)_

"I suppose I will have to make new mistakes", grumbled Tom. "I'd like to get on with it then, if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind, Tom... if you would just step through this door here..."

When Dumbledore returned to room there was another figure standing there. "What do you think?", he asked the figure.

"I don't trust him one bit. He needs to be watched"

"Well of course he needs to watched, old friend" Dumbledore countered in quite a jolly fashion. "Why do you think I have you?"

"What do mean?" asked the figure, stepping into the light and revealing himself to be another old man - about as old as Albus Dumbledore himself. But whereas Albus Dumbledore had the general geniality of a lovable grandfather, this man had a grizzled, scarred appearance and a demeanor of cold fury. Whereas Dumbledore brought to mind a picture of a sheathed sword, he was a naked blade pointed right at you.

"He's not going to be alone." Replied Dumbledore. "He'll have one of us to watch him at every step."

"One of us?" repeated the other man with an air of false and temporary calmness.

"Well... you actually." said Dumbledore, a bit abashed. "You will be the man on the inside, keeping an eye on him till he succeeds in his quest."

"Or fails" countered the other man. "Do you not remember that I already defeated my Dark Lord? I didn't have to do it, but I did it alright! Then I defeated a whole bunch of other aspiring Dark Lords for thirty years, and then legislated the hell out of even more for another thirty. All I wanted to do now, was to meet my wife in the afterlife and spend the rest of eternity with my family."

"Oh, I know you better than that." said Dumbledore. "Did you not keep taking the most perilous missions when your wife and children were waiting for you at home? When you were alive? You would have gotten bored of any idyllic eternity within minutes. I just saved you a bit of boredom, old chap."

* * *

_(Now)_

"Oh, I have a few." Replied Castor. "Just like you have your mission, I have mine too."

"Funny you should say that" quipped Pollux quite wryly. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I do hope your instructions are a bit clearer than mine."

"They're clear enough." said Castor. "I keep an eye on you, and help you when you need me."

"Oh yes, I can see you are very helpful in tying me up."

Castor glared at him. He withdrew a huge knife from his ankle and approached Pollux holding the knife. He came uncomfortably near and pointed the knife at Pollux.

"Why did you call me Tom, when you knew very well YOU were Tom Riddle?" he asked.

Pollux figured out refusing to answer was not an option this time. "It was your behaviour." he said, "right when you killed that snake and disposed of it like a professional assassin. I've been watching you since - you were always cold and detached. All the emotions on your face... they never reach your eyes. Sounds familiar?"

"So I was a creepy kid. Why specifically that creepy kid?"

"We were twins, and we were named after the Gemini - the twin constellations. Are you familiar with the Pagan myth of the Gemini? Castor dies, and Pollux asks for Zeus to share his own soul with him so that Castor may live again - thus binding himself to the other for eternity. But it costs him his immortality, and he has to split his time between Olympus and Hades.

"Given my own experience in splitting my soul, and the bargain I made to surrender my immortality, I thought it was a reasonable guess that you had another part of my soul. And like the Pollux of mythology, it was my fate to save you."

"Huh." said Castor "that does make a certain kind of sense. If you were a superstitious old man that is."

Before Pollux could express his irritation, Castor continued "you are not powerful enough to afford to be superstitious. Actually your theory can be made to fit the facts of my life, but you still have the wrong end of the stick. Now that you've twigged I was never Tom Riddle, do you want to guess who I am?"

Pollux hesitated, then answered "If you are not me then you are a counterpart of me - you are me from another direction, possibly my chief nemesis. You are Albus Dumbledore."

Castor looked at him strangely, and said "I don't know whether to be amused or outright insulted by that. Now you are holding the wrong stick entirely.

"Aren't you forgetting another wizard, who could be a counterpart of you? A wizard a lot like you, and more closely bound to you than any two wizards in all of magical history?"

* * *

_(Somewhere between life and death)_

"THAT WAS NOT YOUR CALL TO MAKE, ALBUS!" the grizzled old man raged at Dumbledore. "I want no part of your mission. If you want to keep an eye on the bastard, do it yourself!"

"It will be but a blink of an eye to you, old friend." Albus tried to mollify his friend. "Eternity is hardly running away. Your family will still be waiting for you when you finish this and come back."

"You're talking as if I have agreed to this. I have not. Are you listening?"

"Don't you think you are being a bit irresponsible here? It was due to you that Tom was able to start his journey to redemption..."

"Not on purpose. And what are you saying, if I save someone I'm responsible for them? Like that Chinese proverb?"

Albus Dumbledore sighed, "Alas, it seems you won't change your attitude-"

"Damn right I won't" interrupted the other man.

"... so I will have to make other arrangements to watch over our young redeemer here." finished Albus.

"Who will you send, Albus?" the other asked, unable to contain his curiosity despite himself.

_"Well... you. The alternate arrangement merely consists of sending you unwilling. Goodbye, for now, old friend"_

* * *

_(Sometime in 1983)_

The old man woke up to find himself as a three, almost four year old Castor Black.

**"ALBUS YOU GOAT SUCKING TURD MUNCHING DICKWAD!"**

Castor Black had his mouth washed with soap by Andromeda Tonks (nee Black).

* * *

_(Now)_

Castor used the knife to cut off the ropes binding Pollux. He gave his wand back and extended his hand for the other boy to shake.

_"Pollux Black - also known as Tom Riddle, I hope we will get along better in the future. I'm Castor Black; also known as **Harry Potter**."_

* * *

Author's note: Phew, finally that revelation was done. Congratulations, Purple Marshmallows, you win, for guessing correctly that Castor Black was Harry Potter!

My original draft had Castor telling it to Pollux as soon as he enervates him after the fight, but because of how I ended the previous chapter, that revelation would have come right at the beginning of the chapter. Then the chapter would be filled with boring stuff. Not a good way to structure. So I had to rearrange the narrative so that the revelation comes at the end.

I had originally just hand-waved that the Gemini twins had some mystical significance, but for the life of me I didn't know what I'll write when the time came to explain it. I got lucky - when I checked in Wikipedia, I could see a way of bending the legend to fit my story.

I'm running out of story now. I have another chapter lined up where Castor and Pollux just talk to tie up loose ends, but this is the end of the original outline I'd written up. I have parts from the Tri-wizard sequence planned, but no plan of how to get there. So do expect future chapters to be delayed some while I plot.

And finally, in the finest traditions of another story in which unwilling powerful men are shanghaied into world-saving missions, here's the part that comes after the credits.

* * *

_(Somewhere... else)_

Albus Dumbledore sighed. His eyes were shining, but not the twinkling he's always known for. This time they were unshed tears.

_"I'm so sorry, Harry."_


	10. Castor's perspective

Previously:

_Castor used the knife to cut off the ropes binding Pollux. He gave his wand back and extended his hand for the other boy to shake._

_"Pollux Black - also known as Tom Riddle, I hope we will get along better in the future. I'm Castor Black; also known as Harry Potter."_

* * *

Author's note: This chapter includes lots of talking and is probably boring.

* * *

_(1983)_

Castor was pretty amused to find he was the little brother of Nymphadora Tonks. It had been so long since he'd last seen her alive. He was reminded of Teddy, as well as Teddy's daughter Miranda who had been the spitting image of Tonks.

God, he missed his family already, all of them. He wondered if it would all turn out the same way as before. But he stopped himself in time; that way lay madness. Let things happen as they happen. As far as he was concerned whatever happened before was the real one, and whatever happened now did not matter. He just had to hang in here till Pollux fails in his misguided quest to become a good person or whatever he's supposed to be becoming, and then he's get to be with his real family again.

He had been watching for Pollux to become "self-aware" and it happened pretty soon after he himself. And what's the first thing he does? Try to figure out if he can talk to snakes. He's stumbled onto Pollux's plan, which was as complicated and elaborate as he'd remembered Voldemort's plans to be. Did he have to make everything so complicated? Castor decided to help him out, because he was a rather nice chap that way. The next time he found a snake in the garden, he tried talking to it. Then he just grabbed it with his hands and took it to the bedroom where Pollux was reading. Turns out Pollux wasn't a parselmouth either. Wasn't that interesting?

He had to admit it was fun to see Pollux freaking out like that. He'd even played it up a bit by killing the snake with a kitchen knife. Back in the day Voldemort had the advantage of power, experience, age and knowledge and Harry had managed to match him many times till he beat him; now, with both of them on more or less even footing, Castor couldn't help but feel that somehow he held the upper hand. The glove was on the other foot and all that.

This would probably bite him in the ass at some point, but Castor couldn't help but give a psychotic smirk to Pollux every time he looked at him, just to see him flinch.

* * *

_(now)_

_"Harry Potter?"_ repeated Pollux dumbly.

"I go by Castor now."

"Why did you release me?"

"I told you, my mission was to assist you."

"You tried to kill me!"

"I never tried to kill you." Castor protested "in fact, you attacked me. I just took you out before you hurt either of us."

Pollux had often wondered how he would react when he met Harry Potter - though he was thinking of the Harry who would show up in Hogwarts the next year - but when he met him what would he feel? Hate, at having destroyed him, not once, not even twice but about seven times? Gratitude, at having given him all that he needed to save himself in the end? Suffice to say that Pollux, who was not known for being one with his feelings, was dreading that confrontation.

And now that he'd found that a version of Harry Potter had been watching over him since he had woken up in this version of reality... Pollux just felt relief. He was not alone! He did not have to look after Castor; Castor was there to look after him! But then...

"So if you're not going to become a dark lord, and I am not going to become a dark lord, what the hell is my mission?"

And just then, he remembered. There was a still active, still evil and still very, very powerful Voldemort out there.

_"Oh fuck."_

* * *

_(1987)_

He wondered what Pollux's game was. Pollux would frequently come and talk to him like a bad imitation of Dumbledore, apparently trying to prove that being a good guy was a loser's game. Was Pollux trying to turn him evil? He decided he'd wait till Pollux shows his hand before confronting him.

Meanwhile, Castor had tried his best to keep fit. His auror training seemed so far away in the past, but you tended to remember that sort of thing forever. Still, discipline was easy when there was a sergeant shouting at you and much, much harder when you had to do it yourself. Given the circumstances, he thought he'd done a passable job of getting in shape. And hey, it was not like Pollux ever got off his butt to exercise. Maybe muggle methods of fitness were beneath the great Lord Voldemort.

Which is why he was rather surprised when Pollux insisted on joining him at Taekwondo class. He himself didn't need it, of course, he had progressed much further than the beginner level they taught here in his old life, but it was a decent cover to do some body hardening exercises. Also a good excuse for his hand-to-hand fighting skills, if they ever got exposed by accident - he doubted any other wizards would know the intricacies of Eastern martials arts. Or Krav Maga. Or the differences between the two.

And his mother turned out to be Bellatrix LeStrange! Who would have seen that coming. Having Voldemort as a brother was bad enough, but at least Pollux did not look like old snake-face. But every time he'd see Bellatrix how could he not see Sirius dying!

Wait, Sirius was alive here! No, don't think of that, none of this was real.

Still, he'd never thought he'd turn out to be a LeStrange.

When Bellatrix finally showed up, it looked like he wasn't a LeStrange after all. Dear Bella had probably been a whore! But when she spoke of his father in such a loving and reverential tone, Castor was reminded of the only man Bellatrix ever loved and revered, and had a sickening thought:

_Was his father Voldemort?_

* * *

_(now)_

"Don't you see?" Pollux concluded his explanation to Castor "there is no way I can defeat the Dark Lord as he is and as I am. He is too powerful and I am too weak!"

"You know," drawled Castor "that is what people said about me the first time around. And aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?"

"There's a perfectly servicable Harry Potter around - not me, the ten year old - and if you leave everything alone, there's a good chance everything would turn out as it did before."

Pollux was stunned. He had not considered the possibility of doing nothing at all.

"But then if I am not to defeat Voldemort why was I sent back to life? How am I supposed to redeem myself?"

"Have you considered that you were not sent here for your redemption at all, you selfish fellow?" asked Castor "maybe it was for Bellatrix. The very fact that we were born made her renounce Voldemort. And now she's trying to save Sirius! Maybe that's what your mission was to do, save Bellatrix."

Pollux thought about it. The idea that his fate was to play a passive role in somebody else's story, did not sit well with him.

"My turn to ask questions." interjected Castor "Why did you go after the diadem today?"

* * *

_(before)_

Castor still couldn't believe Bellatrix got a job. But more than that, he couldn't believe her job involved dressing up as Harley Quinn for Zonko's. Maybe Zonko was as insane as he pretended to be.

But she was doing her best to get Sirius freed, and that made her alright in his book. His main gripes with Bellatrix had always been killing Sirius and being Voldemort's psycho bitch. And now that she had abandoned Voldie and trying to help Sirius, Castor felt that went a long way in the way of redemption. Well, she was still a psycho bitch, but you can't have everything.

He remembered when the family solicitor, Mr Graves, visited to discuss with Bellatrix what her options are, with respect to Sirius's serious plight. He lived upto his name, Mr Graves. Looked well preserved for his age, like an Egyptian mummy. When he spoke it was like hearing a legal document being read aloud. Castor had worked in The Ministry of Magic as Harry Potter for several decades, and yet he hadn't been aware that you could use words like '_forthwith_' and '_heretofore_' in normal conversation.

Now, he and Pollux were out shopping in Diagon alley! It as still a wonderful experience, but not as good as being there for the first time.

He had been irrationally afraid that the Holly Phoenix wand of his previous lifewould choose him again. Or worse, choose Pollux. But when they got to Ollivander's both of them got the very first wands they tried. His was a 12-inch teakwood with dragon heartstring core, and Pollux's was a 12-inch willow with Unicorn hair core.

Ordinarily he'd be quite surprised by that. He knew enough wandlore to know that the emotions of the core donor affected the wand itself. A dragon heartstring core was always obtained by killing the dragon. Such a core was always 'angry', therefore good with destructive spells. A unicorn hair was usually obtained from a willing unicorn, therefore such a wand was 'agreeable', good for delicate charms work.

But that didn't necessarily apply to him and Pollux. Regular kids have to be matched with wands that suit their temperaments, but experienced wizards can work with any wands. And he had worked with several wands in his other life, hadn't he...

* * *

_(now)_

"I didn't go after the diadem" Pollux protested "I knew where the diadem was hidden. I'd be in and out in five minutes."

"So what were you after?"

Pollux hesitated, but decided to answer "I was looking to see if I could find a spare wand"

"Interesting. Did you find any?"

"Not before you attacked me."

"I didn't attack you, I merely confronted you. And I'm not surprised you didn't find any wands. A wand is not something you can easily lose in Hogwarts. If a student reports a lost wand, the elves are put to the job of finding it. If a student dies, the wand is given to the parents, or guardians."

"How do you know that? I never learned that in all my years of Hogwarts."

"I was headmaster of Hogwarts, my dear fellow. In the past... or future."

"Ah. I thought you'd be an auror or something."

"I was that too."

"Well that leaves me in a sort of quandary. I really need a spare wand."

"What for?" Castor asked, and when Pollux hesitated he continued "Come on Pollux. You only want a spare wand if you want to cast a spell that you don't want showing on your main wand. And considering you were willing to cast _sectumsempras_ at me just a moment ago, the spell you don't want on your wand must be pretty bad. So, out with it."

Pollux suddenly realized he'd tainted his wand with dark spells. "The _sectumsempra_ slipped out. In the heat of the battle." he said, but hesitated to add anything else.

Castor continued "Look, I'm not going to rat you out to Dumbledore or anything like that- oh for god's sakes, here." Castor pulled something out of his socks and handed it to Pollux.

"This is a pencil" Pollux said.

"It looks like a pencil. That my friend is a little bit of twenty-first century auror technology. Disposable wand, balsa wood with core of magical coal. You wanted a spare? Here's a spare. Now tell me what you wanted it for."

* * *

_(The morning)_

Castor had been very excited when he found the compartment occupied by the Weasley twins. He suddenly realized they'd be in his year - gods this might be fun after all!

It was surreal to see them as first years, something he hadn't had the pleasure of the first time around. They had the air of mischief he had expected from them, but also had an air of nervousness that he would never have associated with them. They hadn't been nervous when they were ready to face Voldemort - Harry had suspected at that time that they were incapable of feeling fear (which he soon realized was not true when Fred died and George became a father).

He hoped he could save Fred this time around.

Unfortunately those two eleven year old twerps did not share his enthusiasm on meeting them, and reacted in the true tradition of one Mr Ronald Weasley when they learned he came from a traditionally Slytherin family. Looks like they still had some growing to do before they became the people he knew from his past life.

Luckily, he was able to talk them down to convert a potential feud into a potential prank war. Maybe that'll give him an opportunity to win their respect. Pranking shouldn't be that much different from auroring, right? Both need planning. Both need strategy. Just replace 'apprehend' with 'give polka dots', 'question' with 'donkey's ears' and you're good to go.

Hogwarts was a sight to remember from the boats. He'd never have enough of it, no matter how many times he saw it.

The Hat wanted to sort him into Gryffindor. He had to use all of his pull as former/future Hogwarts headmaster to make it sort him into Slytherin. Much as he would have wanted to stay in Gyffindor and befriend the Weasleys, he couldn't afford to lose sight of the target. And sure enough, within minutes, Pollux Black was also sorted into Slytherin. No surprises there, huh?

The surprise was when Pollux was invited for a little tete-a-tete with Albus. The surprise was when after finishing the little chat, Pollux went into the Room of requirement.

Of course Castor followed right behind him...

* * *

_(now)_

"What the devil is magical coal?" asked Pollux.

"What do you think the Hogwarts Express runs on?" replied Castor. When Pollux's eyebrows could not be raised any further, he added "I'm joking. Look, we're running out of time, we need to get back to our dorms.

"Here's the deal. Keep the extra wand for now, but don't use it unless you're in trouble. We'll pretend to be normal students for the rest of the week, but the weekend we'll slip out back here, and in the meantime you can decide what you want to tell me... and what you want to ask me."

"And if I don't show up?" asked Pollux.

"You'll show up. You want to know and you want to talk to me, since I'm the only one you can talk to." replied Castor nonchalantly.

_And Pollux knew he was right._

They both slipped back to the dorms without any trouble and went to their beds. As Pollux closed his eyes he realized he was actually looking forward to his weekend appointment. This would be a long week...

* * *

Author's Note: Thank you all for your reviews. And thank you all for your patience. Weddings of friends, personal illnesses and turbulence at work made these a hectic couple of weeks with little time to add to the story. But finally here it is, the next chapter.

A little note about magical coal. One of the versions of the Leprechaun legend I've heard is that the sack of gold they give you turns into a sack of coal after a while. Of course, in the world of Harry Potter, Leprechaun's gold disappears entirely. There's also the legend that Santa Claus leaves lumps of coal in the stockings of naughty children. I'll be honest, I don't know where magical coal could come from. If anyone of you has any idea let me know, or I'll do a total ass-pull in the next chapter.

The wand in the form of a pencil is one of the first 'technical' ideas I had about this story. It will be discussed in detail in the next chapter, when Castor and Pollux have the second part of their talk.

So, keep on reading. And please keep on reviewing. All the reviews are good; if you think the story sucks, do tell me how it sucks. If you think the story is alright, do tell me that as well, since I find it to be great motivation.


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